$750 Million Enterprise Startup GitHub Has Wild Offices Full Of Bikes, Booze, And … Octocats?!?

Social-coding startup GitHub's San Francisco headquarters looks less like an office and more like your favorite hangout bar.

That may be because the company got its start at Zeke's, a San Francisco sports bar, according to cofounder and CEO Tom Preston-Werner, who gave us a tour.

GitHub just raised $100 million from Andreessen Horowitz—the largest investment by the legendary VC firm to date, and one that valued the four-year-old startup at $750 million.

GitHub offers its customers, largely programmers, a place to jointly work on and store their code. Open-source projects can use GitHub for free. It makes money by selling private code-repository services and software to enterprises (and also by selling 3,000 GitHub T-shirts, mugs, and other goodies a month).

For years, GitHub made do without an office, meeting in bars or coffee shops. So they wanted the same atmosphere for their first office—fun, not "soul-deadening." When San Francisco's legendary Eddie Rickenbacker's bar shut down, Preston-Werner snapped up a vintage red Indian motorcycle from the watering hole's collection.

The front third of the office is an employee lounge, bar, and party area filled with funky furniture.

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The company logo, the Octocat, is everywhere. The Octocat takes all kinds of forms, like this oil painting.

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Dogs, video games, and a motorcycle are part of the decor.

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Iconic bar Eddie Rickenbacker's, a GitHub favorite, recently closed. So GitHub bought its most famous motorcycle, the red Indian on its front sign. Preston-Werner sometimes wheels it around the office.

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The front office is the Thinking Room, a 19th-century-style lounge where no technology is allowed except an iPad hidden in an old book.

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Hidden in the Thinking Room's globe is a bottle of whiskey. This is the room where the founders decided to take $100 million from Andreessen Horowitz.

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The Thinking Room comes complete with an old Victrola record player that still works.

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GitHub always has four beers on tap served from the homemade Kegerator. The selection changes regularly.

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The Kegerator is the second piece of furniture the company owned. The inlaid-wood Octocat is awesome.

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Preston-Werner loves Scotch. He keeps a special selection, curated from a trip to Scotland, in a locked cabinet.

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GitHub even made up special etched Octocat whiskey glasses. They are not yet for sale, but will be soon.

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GitHub supplements the beers on tap with a bigger selection in the fridge. Having a variety of beers to choose from is VERY important.

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The lounge area has a full DJ setup. At least four employees are also DJs, including developer Zach Holman.

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Naturally, GitHub has a pool table. It also has a custom-built touchscreen table—but it runs Apple software, not Microsoft.

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GitHub makes "hundreds of thousands of dollars" a year selling T-shirts and other merchandise, Preston-Werner told us. Beth Jennings has the title "Shipping Squirrel."

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GitHub even sells Octocat T-shirts for babies. (Pro tip: They also fit small dogs.)

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The back part of the office is where work gets done, standing or sitting. Note the Octocat mosaic and poster on the wall.

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GitHub is a doggie paradise. There were four dogs running around the day we visited.

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Plenty of room for dogs to hang out in the work area with their favorite developers.

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Employees who don't have dogs always have the Octocat to keep them company. This knitted cord cozy sits near Holman's desk.

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This techno-wonderland desk is reserved for the King or Queen of Developers—the title for the developer assigned that month to coordinate the squashing of bugs.

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GitHub has its share of women developers, like Julie Horvath.

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Here is cofounder Preston-Werner hard at work in his desk in the middle of the room.

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Pushup time is a daily ritual organized by support cat Sonya Green (upper right, in black with blonde hair).

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The Octocat also organizes events, like the Dodgeball Invitational.

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Themed offices line the edge of the workspace, including a podcast room. Tim Clem works on the GitHub for Windows podcast.